Posted on 04/18/2005 1:24:59 PM PDT by ajolympian2004
Criticized professor speaks at Reed
Organizers invited Ward Churchill, whose essay on the 9/11 attacks enraged many, as a stand against "blacklisting"
Sunday, April 17, 2005 SHELBY OPPEL WOOD
A Colorado professor whose comments about the Sept. 11 attacks launched a national debate about the limits of academic freedom told a Reed College audience Saturday that he's been criticized for merely pointing out the attacks were "natural and inevitable."
Ward Churchill, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder, cited a long list of U.S. actions that have resulted in suffering and death for people elsewhere, from Nagasaki to Vietnam to Iraq.
"Well, the chickens came home to roost on 9/11 big time," Churchill said.
In black jeans and cowboy boots, Churchill welcomed the crowd of about 450 students, faculty and staff with his customary Native American greeting, "Hello, my relatives."
Justin Wilson, a Reed student who introduced Churchill, said organizers wanted his visit to represent a defense of academic freedom and a stand against "blacklisting."
Churchill caused a furor in January after Hamilton College in New York invited him to speak about an essay he wrote about the Sept. 11 attacks.
In his essay, available on the Internet, Churchill connected the attacks with U.S. actions against other countries and the economic sanctions and airstrikes against Iraq after the Gulf War. Referring to perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks as "combat teams," Churchill wrote:
"The most that can honestly be said of those involved on Sept. 11 is that they finally responded in kind to some of what this country has dispensed to their people as a matter of course."
He described World Trade Center victims as "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi bureaucrat who kept the trains running to deliver Jews to death camps across Europe.
"True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire," he wrote.
On Saturday, Churchill said his words had been distorted by conservative commentators such as Bill O'Reilly of the Fox network. "No matter how you parse it, the word 'justified' does not appear," Churchill said.
For the United States to be secure, Churchill said, its leaders must "change the equation in terms of valuing life." He said Americans must place equal value on the lives of people of other countries.
Churchill isn't the only person to have linked U.S. foreign policy to the Sept. 11 attacks, but his argument enraged victims' families and prompted Colorado Gov. Bill Owens to call for his resignation. Hamilton College canceled his speech after receiving threats of violence.
In February, the University of Oregon canceled his appearance at a conference on race and immigration in the post-Sept. 11 era.
Two Reed students invited Churchill to the Southeast Portland campus, said Beth Sorensen, a Reed spokeswoman. His speech in Kaul Auditorium was not publicized and was limited to students, faculty, staff and guests.
Cameras and recording devices were banned "in the spirit of creating an open forum for debate and discussion," according to a written statement released by the college.
At UC-Boulder, a seven-week review by the interim chancellor concluded that the First Amendment protects Churchill's writings. A tenured professor, he earns $94,242 a year.
But the review also produced allegations of plagiarism and fabrication in Churchill's research and questions about whether he fraudulently used his claim of Native American ethnicity to advance himself. A UC faculty committee is investigating.
Churchill took questions from students, including a few who challenged him.
"Is there really no place for the U.S. to intervene in the world?" one student asked.
"Yeah, good question," Churchill replied. "The answer is real simple, no. If you want to export democracy, you might first want to learn something about it."
Shelby Oppel Wood: shelbyoppel@news.oregonian.com
His 15 seconds of fame are over..
"cameras and recording devices were banned to create an atmoshpere of open discussion...."
yeah no kidding.
Since I express myself with my camera and my recording device, this violates my first amendment right.
Hey Ward, you Indian-simulating copyright-thief: Bite me.
If he had boiled his entire message down to "the attacks were inevitable" in the first place he could have avoided this whole affair. It was his attempt to justify his stance using inflamatory rhetoric and unfounded accusations which caused his woes.
Of course simplifying your message and boiling it down to its' essence goes against the nature of what it means to be an intellectual. It's hard to sound really smart when you are saying simple things which everyone already intuitively knows. You wind up sounding very pretentious and aloof. Pres. Bush understands this simple concept, and it drives the intellectuals crazy.
i've seen estimates that 1/7 people in the united states share churchill's views that the u.s. is always the victimizer.
No wonder he wants no documentation or records of his rantings.
Reed College, famous Left Coast, left wing college.
I don't have to tell you, there's a war, a very serious war going on from the intolerant, fascist left against everything free, American and democratic. It's the worst I've seen in my lifetime. The left wants the death of America. And they're not quitting. Subverted from within.
"Justin Wilson, a Reed student who introduced Churchill, said organizers wanted his visit to represent a defense of academic freedom and a stand against "blacklisting.""
I'm so sick of seeing this line everytime someone like Churchill speaks at a campus. If they were so committed to "academic freedom" and free speech, why aren't more conservatives invited to speak?
"Cameras and recording devices were banned "in the spirit of creating an open forum for debate and discussion," according to a written statement released by the college."
Typical leftist BS. In other words, no incriminating evidence.
Perhaps that is why the school allowed cameras to be banned.
For a completely fake Indian/artist/academician/human being, he sure is an arrogant son-of-gun.
Why hasn't CU fired him yet?
Because they like the sudden dropoff in enrollments.
To fire the White Buffalo would bring a great curse upon CU - they would't win the Big 12 football championship as long as the grass grows and the streams flow.
There's gotta be some kind of a cowboy and indian joke in there somewhere, I'd say.
If you choose to make a dig at the Scots-Irish, you might want to get the name right.
The proper term is "hillbillies." :-)
I love Scoth-Irish. My mom was a hillbilly. Ward Churchill faked an entire character to get over as a phony Indian.
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